Mount Hope Bridge

About this property

The Mount Hope Bridge is a two-lane suspension bridge spanning the Mount Hope Bay in eastern Rhode Island at one of the narrowest gaps in Narragansett Bay. The bridge connects the Rhode Island towns of Portsmouth and Bristol and is part of Route 114. Its towers are 285 feet (87 m) tall, the length of the main span is 1,200 feet (370 m), and it offers 135 feet (41 m) of clearance over high water. The total length of the bridge is 6,130 feet (1,870 m). A ferry operated between Bristol and Portsmouth before the bridge was built, and the 1855 Bristol Ferry Light still remains at the base of the bridge. The Mount Hope Bridge was proposed in 1920, and the New Hope Bridge Company was incorporated in 1927, after a few years of resistance from the Rhode Island General Assembly and with the influence of state senator and business leader William Henry Vanderbilt III. Construction began on December 1, 1927 using a design by Robinson & Steinman. Serious structural problems were discovered four months before it was to open, forcing the contractor to disassemble and reassemble portions of the bridge. Vanderbilt gave the opening address at the dedication ceremony on October 24, 1929, where a radio link was set up with Washington, D.C. The $5 million bridge was opened to traffic just five days before the Wall Street crash of 1929 occurred. It was owned by the Mount Hope Bridge Company as a private toll bridge, with the initial toll costing 60 cents one way and $1 for a round-trip. The Bridge company went bankrupt in 1931, and prominent local brewer Rudolf F. Haffenreffer acquired it in receivership. It remained the longest suspension bridge in New England for 40 years, until the Claiborne Pell Bridge opened a few miles to the south in Newport, Rhode Island. In 1971, the Mount Hope Bridge was considered for inclusion as part of the never-built Interstate 895. This plan would have required the construction of a parallel span, but the entire I-895 plan was eventually dropped due to community opposition throughout the projected route. The Mount Hope Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. It underwent more than $15 million in renovations between 1998 and 2004. Bicycles were permitted on the bridge in 2007, but bicyclists were advised by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation to use extreme caution. In 2023, the Rhode Island Bridge and Turnpike Authority disputed whether bicycles were ever allowed on the Mount Hope Bridge, and told the Portsmouth Times that bicycles were only allowed during special events. Bicycling advocates disputed the RIBTA's claim, and noted to the Times that other state agencies had listed the bridge as a bicycle route. In 2023, signs were placed at the base of the bridge stating that pedestrians, bicycles, and mopeds are not permitted.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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